13 year old NY state record holder

[KirkB]

... the MAJOR and most obvious problem... Take another look -especially at the drills.

On the drill: Hunching her shoulders and pulling up ... especially with the bottom arm ... way too early ... then dropping into an inversion. Rather unorthodox ... and inefficient. But hey, she's only 13!

Kirk

[altius]

Yes but you have missed the point i was trying to make to superpipe. That is that while her run up will improve quite easily through natural and trained physical development over two or three years -the fault I am alerting folk too will rapidly become over learned and increasingly difficult to eliminate unless it is dealt with now. Note that I have already been in contact with her dad/coach and suggested a possible solution - because he asked my opinion just prior to putting the video on PVP..

[Andy_C]

Something that hasn't been mentioned before?

From a quick look at the practice videos:

They were noticeably more under than in the meet - especially in one of them (#1)
She's losing her hips at the first part of the swing.
She's dropping her right knee before picking it up again.
The shoulder is not going down and towards the pad, but I suspect that this may be partially due to the fact that she's lost all momentum going up and is in a pretty bad position to extend. Biomechanically it's going to be incredibly difficult to drop the shoulders if the hips are too low. Once she breaks at the hips I see very little upward rotation so that probably means that there was very little energy in the swing to begin with. Then again, she could just have a really bad fixation with looking at the bar - I'm not sure at this point.

I really haven't given it too much thought with all the work I've got at the moment so I think I'm really fishing for the answer you're thinking about right now.

But as always, it's difficult for me to say whether or not these things are habits from 3 videos - especially with taking off under. She looked okay in the meet vid (not perfect but much better than what I usually see), but then she was noticeably under in practice vid #1.

PV.jpg (89.06 KiB) Viewed 4077 times

Not a good position - practice vid #1.

PV2.jpg (89.22 KiB) Viewed 4077 times

Dropping the knee and losing the hip.

-Andrew

P.S. I'll probably get a much better chance to look at everything this weekend but until then if I have still missed something major or not even on the right track let me know! My thoughts may be a bit convoluted right now but I don't like it when I miss things!

[dougb]

As Altius says, "All good stuff here." The good news, as far as her left arm is concerned, is that she can use it correctly. This is evident in the drill videos.

As far as immidiate improvement (Thirteen year old record.) I would have her vaulting at a 13' Bungie and have her concentrate on dropping her head and shoulders earlier so that her hips keep moving. From her video at 11' 1" it appears that she is concentrating on the bar and not on her vault. This is a common problem and a tough fault to rid yourself of. Esspecially, if your trying so set a PR. By putting the bar up high at least she will be looking up and trying to go up.

This girl has a lot of potential and I wouldn't sweat the record too much. Much better to get the run and plant stronger so that, when her body catches up with her dreams, she is ready.

Doug Balcomb

[altius]

"I don't like it when I miss things!" Unfortunately Andy C you have -but dont worry- I would probably miss the brain tumour when folk presented with persistent headaches! But you seem to be in good company and I must admit that in the past twenty years I have only seen two athletes - both girls -with this fault. It must be eliminated asap - so how would you go about it??????? This is just like the process of diagnosis in medicine isnt it?

[KirkB]

... This is just like the process of diagnosis in medicine isnt it?

And your name is "House".

I gotta step out for awhile, but I'll take a closer look later.

Kirk

[KirkB]

I watched the drill vid 3 times ... can't see what you're hinting at, other than what I've already said ... I give up.

Kirk

[altius]

It can also be seen in the film of the full jump =just a bit more obvious in the drills, It is not an incidental problem that will simply go away. Anyway she has already begun drills in an attempt to resolve the issue, perhaps her coach will let us know how they get on.

No - definitely not "House" - I find it difficult to take that program seriously because i remember him as the bumbling idiot in the Blackadder series!!

[superpipe]

OK. I'll take a stab at this secret issue we have all missed. Aside from what has already been pointed out, the only other thing I'm spotting is she raises her left arm elbow during her plant motion instead of keeping the left arm elbow below her left hand during the plant motion. This causes a weak plant motion and weak use of the left hand/arm at take-off. The left hand/arm becomes too weak in this motion for the proper passive support during take-off, meaning it's almost not contributing at all and it's very difficult to attain the proper up-right take-off position. Here's a shot of her:



vs. where the left elbow should be under the left hand:



Incidentally, this high left elbow plant motion is what is causing exactly what Andy_C mentioned:

Her hand is wrapped around the left side of the pole rather than supporting it from behind.

Since I haven't said it yet and we're all drilling her technique here, I want to give some positive feedback. I'd like to congratulate this young girl on her current level of vaulting. It's amazing! She has a very bright future in this event.

[altius]

"we're all drilling her technique here,"

I am not "drilling" her technique - I am trying to use this fairly rare but major fault to help young coaches build their coaches eye. As agapit observed some time ago "Spoon feeding only prepares you to recognise the spoon" which is why I have framed my comments as a question rather than a statement. And as I said earlier. her coach sent me the film the day before he posted on pvp with a request for comment/advice. I have already responded with very positive comments to him about his daughters present performance/technique and her potential. I have also suggested how the problem might be dealt with, and as I understand it, that process has already begun.

[superpipe]

Didn't mean to have my comment sound so harsh. Sorry if it came across that way. I just wanted to make sure she didn't read the post and see nothing but problems to fix. I like what your doing Alan by trying to make sure we (coaches) train our eyes. I respect you a ton and I took your coaches clinic you gave at Slippery Rock, PA a few years ago. You sucked me in to try some of the drills you were explaining. Well worth my travel, time and money for my professional development as a coach.

So how about letting us know what was missed. It's killing me now.

[Barefoot]

Well... Its been touched upon by others, But the first thing I think needs fixing is the grip of her left hand. She's "monkey gripping" her left, which means she can't be creating enough space above her head, nor driving the pole up at the plant. My 2 cents.